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Plague Upon Depravity: 750,000 Die NeedlesslyA Shooting Ourselves in the Foot: The Sanitizing of Violence in Our Society Article from All-Creatures.org

Throughout the ages, we have accepted killing, violence, and violent behavior as just being a part of life -
it's time we change!

By: Frank L. Hoffman

The following news release is just another example of what we believe is a Divine
plague upon us for our depraved indifference to the pain and suffering of
animals and for our cravings for their flesh:

On Monday, 19 February 2001, Tyson Foods Inc. said it was recalling
1,150 tons of cooked chicken tenderloins and breast strips because the
products may have been underprocessed and could cause foodborne illnesses.

The
recall affects a wide range of cooked chicken products that were
sold to retail stores, restaurants, military commissaries and food service
vendors in the United States and the Gulf, the Caribbean and Indonesia, the
U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) said in a separate statement.

Tyson said the problem was identified by internal company inspectors
after consumer complaints, but it had not received any reports of illnesses
caused by the underprocessed products, which were sold under the Tyson brand
and selected customers' private labels.

I find it interesting that the "internal company inspectors" failed to
protect the public from the possibility of potential illnesses before
release of the products. So much for self-policing and good quality control!

There is a cold indifference in these types of recall notices, for they
fail to recognize the fear, pain and suffering of approximately 750,000 chickens
who died needlessly to satisfy people's craving for the flesh of animals.
And even worse, an additional 750,000 chickens are doomed to death to replace
those who have already died.

While I'm on the subject, a few years ago we never used to see posted
"recall notices" of contaminated products like the Tyson one we saw while
shopping in the frozen food section of a supermarket a few days ago. Have
you noticed how food recalls have become a common occurrence?

Thankfully, there are sensitive people like Batya Bauman who upon
reading about this recall, wrote:

How does one begin to respond (emotionally) to this kind of thing?
Are we glad because it will perhaps make people think twice about eating
chickens? Or, do we grieve for the enormous waste of chickens'
lives (which are lost anyway) and which will probably result in even more
chickens being wasted and slaughtered to make up for these losses by the
company/public? These are the kinds of events that derive from an
insane society, and are enough to drive one to insanity!

Most people picture chickens living a very pleasant life in a farm yard
like the one pictured above from a sanctuary, but the reality is the chicken
house in the photo to the upper right. In these concentration camps, each
chicken is forced to live in less that 1 square foot of space.

The Chickens are then transported to the slaughter houses like one of Tyson's.
They are crammed into wire cages (photo-left), stacked one upon another so that
the feces of the upper chickens fall upon the ones below, and driven to their
death. Once at the slaughterhouse, they are hung upside down in shackles
(photo-below right) and hopefully killed quickly, which does not always happen.

Following the killing of the chickens, their cadavers are soaked in a hot water "bath",
which has been described to us as "fecal soup", and which we believe is the
source of most of the contamination and the so-called food- borne illness.
These factories don't make a lot of money on each chicken so everything is done
in a hurry, as was obviously the case with the "under processed product".
But the public is also part of the problem, for it demands cheap flesh. It
is a vicious circle of indifference to those who suffer for our culinary
pleasure. And because of this, I believe we are suffering the consequences.
Tyson has lost a lot of money. The earth has become more polluted.
Humans are risking their health, and billions of animals are suffering and dying
each year.

It is truly a plague! We are shooting ourselves in the foot because we have
sanitized violence such as this. And it won't come to an end until we
repent of what we have been doing and cease doing it any more. It's time
the chickens of this world regain the right to live their lives as God
originally intended in a world without pain, suffering, or death.

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